This disclosure relates generally to a system and apparatus for collecting, transferring, and in some situations, measuring beverage brewing substance for transfer to a brewing substance holder.
Devices have been developed for brewing beverages for a variety of brewing substances such as tea, or other materials. In some beverage brewing devices, a funnel or substance retaining holder is associated with the brewer. While coffee will be referred to herein below, a variety of brewing substances may be used. Loose coffee is collected by way of a spoon, measuring scoop or other device to transfer coffee from a larger ground coffee container or other coffee grinding device. In the prior brewing devices, which are used to produce a drip brewed coffee, the funnel or holder is generally a large diameter structure having a capacity which is relatively larger than the volume of coffee used in the brewing process. As a result, it is relatively uncomplicated to position the scoop or spoon full of loose coffee into the brewing holder without spilling coffee outside of the holder.
Additionally, due to the nature of the drip brewing process, a volume of water is dispensed over the loose coffee retained in the holder. Generally a sufficient volume of space is provided in the holder to accommodate a volume of water for use in brewing the beverage. Also, as the holder is generally mounted on a rail system or channels to retain the funnel underneath a spraying device or sprayhead, there is little, if any, consequence if some of the coffee were to inadvertently placed on or relative to the rim or other surfaces of the substance holder.
In contrast, the variety of smaller serving or “pod” brewing devices have been developed. Pod brewers use a pod or other form of encapsulated brewing substance retained in a filter material. The brewing substance in the filter material provides a convenient package for handling a predetermined quantity of brewing substance. The filter material provides a package or container for the brewing substance. This package allows the brewing substance to be handled prior to brewing and after brewing with little complication or mess.
Such brewing substances pre-packaged in filter material are referred to as “pods” or “sachets.” Brewing substances can be compressed while packaging in the filter material or left in a generally loose condition. Pods are typically circularly shaped and have a somewhat flattened configuration. Thus, pods often are provided in the shape of a disc or puck. Pods generally range in a size from approximately 45 mm to 60 mm and contain approximately 9-11 grams of brewing substance. The typical pod is used to produce approximately 8 ounces of brewed beverage. As a result, pods are generally used in conjunction with single-serve brewers (i.e., one or two cup brewers) rather than the larger, multi-serve brewers.
Although convenient, pod use in single-serve brewers may be less desirable in some cases. For example, because the pods are prepackaged by a pod manufacturer, the selection of brewing substances is limited to the pod manufacturer's selection. As a result, a consumer or user may not be able to use his/her favorite brewing substance when utilizing a prepackaged pod. Similarly, because the pods are prepackaged, varying the strength of the resultant beverage may be accomplished by increasing or decreasing the amount of brewing water delivered to the brewing substance or the pattern of delivering water to the brewing substance.
Uniform flavor extraction from the brewing material may be more difficult to achieve with a pod. Unlike open filter brewer designs which use a cone or “cup cake” filter, brewing substance in a pod is confined within the pod and generally is not free to agitate in the brewing liquid. Instead, the brewing liquid tends to pass directly from the top of the pod to the bottom of the pod, collecting solubles as it passes through. This vertical flow pattern through the pod may result in some areas of the brewing substance being over extracted and other areas being under extracted. Accordingly, the flavor of the resulting beverage may be affected due to the non-uniform extraction of solubles, particles and other flavor characteristics from the particles of brewing substance.
Pod-type brewers are generally less conducive to use with loose coffee, coffee not packaged in filtered material compared to drip brewing type brewing. However, developments disclosed herein have been made which allow a loose beverage brewing substance to be used with a pod-type brewer. In this regard, the pod holder or drawer may be used to retain the loose beverage substance. Additional structures may be used to encapsulate or retain the beverage substance in the holder.
However, one of the complications that may arise with the use of this type of holder with loose beverage substance is that substance may be placed on surfaces of the holder. This may be a complication in that the surface of the holder may need to make a sealing contact with the brewer in order to properly brew the desired beverage. In this regard, single-serving type brewers often provide a seal between the beverage holder and the brewer so that water dispensed from the holder will flow through the holder and not leak from the holder.
Loose coffee transferred to the holder may result in accidental spilling of brewing substance on the holder. The spilled substance may interfere with the sealing between the brewer and the holder. This could cause some leakage between the holder and brewer when water is dispensed from the brewer through the brewing substance in the holder.
With the foregoing in mind, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus and method for selective transfer and containment of brewing substance used in a brewer. It would also be desirable to provide a system and apparatus to allow user to select brewing substance and to transfer the selected brewing substance to a holder for use in a pod machine.